Could overseas order backflow expected for textiles this year?-summary of Intertextile Shanghai 2024

The Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics - Spring Edition 2024 was held during 6-8 March 2024 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai. During this event, the author visited various booths and gained insights into the cotton fabric section of the exhibition.

Firstly, the exhibition halls were crowded with a strong turnout. Hall 5.2 featured bedding and home textiles, drawing large crowds. Hall 7.1 showcased knitted and woven denims, as well as casual wear fabrics. Small booths were noticeably reduced, but there were still a considerable number of large booths with decent foot traffic. Hall 8.2 covered cotton yarn, polyester yarn, fancy yarn, etc., with a good flow of visitors, though cotton yarn exhibitors reported fewer orders, focusing more on market trends. Hall 6.1 mainly focused on formal and shirt fabrics, involving some dyeing mills from Zhejiang, with a high flow of visitors and strong popularity. Overall, the exhibition had high foot traffic and was popular among attendees.

Secondly, domestic orders for grey fabric were insufficient, while inquiries for export orders were active. During the exhibition, the author visited exhibitors from Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong, and other regions, mostly large weaving mills. They indicated that while orders were scheduled until the end of Mar, they were mainly for pre-holiday orders, with few new orders after the Chinese Lunar New Year, and downstream customers were mostly adopting a wait-and-see approach, with only orders for specific fabrics being relatively good. Some exhibitors mentioned that domestic orders were weak recently, possibly due to cold weather, and they were observing how orders would recover after the temperature rose. Exhibitors from Jiangsu and Zhejiang indicated active inquiries for export orders recently, a significant improvement from the same period last year when the export market was stagnant. However, exhibitors also noted that export orders now require extremely strict traceability, and large orders are hard to find. They stated that due to the impact of "de-sinicization," many regular export orders have been shifted overseas, leaving behind high-tech orders domestically. Exhibitors also mentioned that the future competition for export orders in Chinese domestic market will be more intense, and apart from enhancing the technical content of their products, whether to transfer production capacity overseas or shift to the domestic market is a question that needs careful consideration.

Thirdly, there was sufficient demand for home textile orders, but the outlook was not optimistic. While visiting Hall 5.2, it was evident that the hall was bustling with activity. According to feedback from weaving mills at the exhibition, the current situation for home textile orders is acceptable, with orders scheduled until late Mar or early Apr. However, there are few subsequent orders, and it is expected that from late Mar, weaving mills will focus more on seeking orders or stocking up. In addition, exhibitors also mentioned that in recent years, the life cycle of new fabrics has been shortened by the influence of e-commerce, with products being updated too quickly, thereby reducing manufacturers' profits and causing immense pressure on them.

Fourthly, there were not many orders for dyeing mills. Although there were not many dyeing companies participating in this exhibition, feedback from the site indicated that exhibitors had not felt the arrival of the peak season yet. While the orders were about 10 days in lead time, they were mainly pre-existing orders from before the Spring Festival, with few orders after the holiday and inadequate follow-up orders. The dyeing fee was mostly stable.

In conclusion, based on the Shanghai exhibition, both the apparel grey fabric and home textile markets lack new orders after the Chinese Lunar New Year, and grey fabric prices are difficult to increase, leading to a severe compression of manufacturers' profits. Although inquiries for export orders are active, there is still a lack of large orders. Looking ahead, we believe that the short-term lack of orders in the market may be related to the weather, and the recovery of orders after the warming in Mar needs observation. However, in the long run, China's textile market still needs to focus on overseas markets. In 2024, there is an expectation of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve, and the recovery of export orders after the rate reduction needs further observation. However, due to the growth of competitiveness in Southeast Asia and political factors, the extent to which overseas orders will return still needs to be observed.